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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

The March Booknews will post the end of the week. I can say that since I've completed it.  

Meanwhile please review February by clicking here

To see our Picks, please click here

Our book clubs are for buyers, not for discussion groups. The idea is to give members of each club something new and wonderful to reach each month.

To see our January and  Picks, please click here,

then check out each club for what it offers and the new Picks

To join a book club, email [email protected]

Unsigned Hardcovers: click here

Signed Hardcovers, click here

Trade Paperbacks, click here

Mass Market Paperbacks, click here

Editor Adams and author Gabaldon both sign a nifty new anthology.

The Mad Scientists Guide to World Domination: Stories (Forge $26). 

Original short fiction for the Modern Evil Genius. 

Everybody loves villains. They're bad; they always stir the pot; they're much more fun than the good guys, even if we want to see the good guys win. Their fiendish schemes, maniacal laughter, and limitless ambition are legendary, but what lies behind those crazy eyes and wicked grins? How-and why-do they commit these nefarious deeds? And why are they so set on taking over the world? 

The bestselling authors-include Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson, Austin Grossman, Naomi Novik, and Seanan McGuire...22 in all indulging in the most megalomaniacal mayhem imaginable. 

Also in Trade Paper: The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination ($15).

To mark the publication of the 20^th Kate Shugak, Dana is giving away three fantastic prizes she's brought down from-and they are from-Alaska. As always, prizes go to those have purchased the new book and have thus a numbered ticket.

Here are the prizes.

about Alaska, truly gorgeous in content and prose. I reread several descriptive paragraphs to savor them (again).

Plus, as I wrote to her, what you've got is the kind of thing that honor killings and blood feuds are made of, so in fact while you are acknowledging Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which was always about the families, not the two lovers, the story is completely contemporary but in a surprise context....  The prologue sets up the entire novel.

Note: you do not have to have read any of the previous 19 Kates to enjoy this novel as in its way it stands all on its own.

Here's the review from PublishersWeekly (PW)

"An affectionate nod to Romeo and Juliet, Stabenow's absorbing 20th Kate Shugak novel focuses on two feuding villages in the 20 million acre Alaskan national park that Kate calls home. Kushtaka, founded by the Athabascan Mack family, is in decline, losing population and clinging to a subsistence lifestyle. Trappers led by the Norwegian Christianson family founded nearby Kuskulana, which has thrived with an airstrip, a growing population, and federal funds. When the body of Kushtakan Tyler Mack surfaces in a river, Sgt. Jim Chopin, a state trooper, thinks it's likely a homicide; when a second body, of a Kuskulaner, turns up, Chopin is sure more violence will follow. The secretive romance between Kushtakan Jennifer Mack and Kuskulaner Ryan Christianson might turn the feud into a war. Meanwhile, Kate has a plan to save the couple. Edgar-winner Stabenow's take on Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers ends..." Nope, not telling. Read it yourself! 

Grab a special commemorative mug ($24.95 complete with a bag of ground special Tsunami Blend coffee, Chopper Jim's favorite) for this landmark book.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 27 7:00 PM

Sara J Henry signs A Cold and Lonely Place (Crown $24)  

I am as crazy about Troy Chance's second case as I was about the first. And PP Staffer Lea Love writes, "The sophomore effort from Sara is just as well done as her award winning first novel Learning to Swim ($15). Once again, the secrets and undercurrents in a small town are brought to light in a very involving way...loved it." 

Freelance writer Troy Chance is snapping photos of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace when the ice-cutting machine falls silent. Encased in the ice is the shadowy outline of a body-a man she knows. One of her roommates falls under suspicion, and the media descends. Troy's assigned to write an in-depth feature on the dead man, who, it turns out, was the privileged son of a wealthy Connecticut family who had been living blue-collar life in this Adirondack village.  The deeper Troy digs into his life and mysterious death, the murkier things become, the more she begins to like the dead man, and, after the victim's sister comes to town and a string of disturbing incidents unfolds, attempts to block Troy's research multiply. 

"Featuring a strong cast of female characters and a measured pace, this sophomore novel also perfectly conjures the lure of living in a small and beautiful mountain town during a bitterly cold winter. Featuring an independent and immensely likable lead, riffing on the complicated nature of friendship, and boasting a solidly plotted mystery, this may well appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn." -Booklist. 

"At the start of Henry's haunting follow-up to Learning to Swim, reporter Troy Chance stumbles onto what could be the story that changes her career-as well as several lives. Adding considerably to the compulsively readable mystery that unfolds...is Henry's bone-deep sense of this terribly beautiful place." -PW

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 28 7:00 PM

The Hardboiled Crime Club reads Karin Fossum's Broken ($14)

SATURDAY MARCH 2 2:00 PM

Kent Harrington signs The Rat Machine (Market Street Books $25 trade paper)

MONDAY MARCH 4 7:00 PM

Keith McCafferty signs The Gray Ghost Murders(Viking $27) Montana PI Sean Stranahan, plus fabulous fishing lures and stories

TUESDAY MARCH 5 7:00 PM

Clive Cussler and Justin Scott sign The Striker(Putnam $29) Isaac Bell

WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 7:00 PM

Thomas Perry signs The Boyfriend (Grove $25) Wicked standalone thriller

THURSDAY MARCH 7 7:00 PM

Vernona Gomez signs Lefty An American Odyssey

SATURDAY MARCH 9 10:30 AM

Coffee and Crime discusses ML Longworth's debut, Death at the Chateau Bremont ($15). The author appears via Skype from Franc at 11:00 AM so come for that if not for the discussion first.!

MONDAY MARCH 11 7:00 PM

Naomi Hirahara signs Strawberry Yellow (Prospect $15) Mas Arias

TUESDAY MARCH 12 7:00 PM

Randy Wayne White signs Night Moves (Putnam $27) Doc Ford

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13

 Cara Black signs Murder Below Montparnasse (Soho $26) Aimee LeDuc

 Hilary Davidson signs Evil in All Its Disguises (Forge $26). Lily Moore

THURSDAY MARCH 14 7:00 PM

CJ Box signs Breaking Point (Putnam $27) Joe Pickett

SUNDAY MARCH 17 2:00 PM St Patrick's Day Party

Erin Hart (by Skye) signed The Book of Killowen (Scribner $26) Nora Gavin

Rhys Bowen signs The Family Way Signed (St Martins $25) Molly Murphy

MONDAY MARCH 18 7:00 PM

John Billheimer signs Field of Schemes (Five Star $26) Baseball mystery

THURSDAY MARCH 21 7:00 PM

 Owen Laukkanen signs Criminal Enterprise (Putnam $27)

SATURDAY MARCH 23 12:00 PM

The Nancy Drew Group reads Nancy Drews #37 and #38

MONDAY MARCH 25 7:00 PM Launch Party

Jacqueline Winspear signs Leaving Everything Most Loved (Harper $27) Maisie Dobbs

TUESDAY MARCH 26 7:00 PM Launch Party

William Kent Krueger signs Ordinary Grace (Atria $25) Standalone

THURSDAY MARCH 28 7:00 PM

Hardboiled Crime Club reads Stuart MacBride's Birthdays for the Dead ($15)

Note: Two titles, Roger Hobbs' Ghostman, and Stephen Talty's Black Irish, are completely sold out in Signed firsts to our book clubs. A reason to join is you may lose out on great books, especially new voices making exciting debuts.

For a terrific range of new trade paperbacks and mass markets, please click on the February Booknews link above.

Berenson, Alex. Night Ranger Signed (Putnam $29).

Agent John Wells must venture to East Africa to save four American hostages from a group of Somali bandits. "A tense thriller that relies equally on bravery, wit, and 21st-century American firepower... Berenson gives readers top-notch, fast-paced excitement in a part of the world unfamiliar to many Americans. John Wells is a worthy hero readers can count on."- Kirkus Reviews.

Collins, Max Allan. Seduction of the Innocent (Titan $9.95).

 It's 1954, and a rabble-rousing social critic has declared war on comic books-especially the scary, gory, bloody sort published by the bad boys of the industry, EF Comics. But on the way to a Senate hearing on whether these depraved publications should be banned, the would-be censor meets a violent end of his own - leaving his opponents in hot water.   Can Jack Starr, private eye to the funny-book industry, and his beautiful boss Maggie unravel the secret of Dr. Frederick's gruesome demise?

Dorsey, Tim. The Riptide Ultra-Glide Signed (Morrow $27).

"Tim Dorsey's nutty novels about a manic serial killer and his weed- smoking sidekick are fanciful, but they're not nonsensical. Accompanied by his habitually groggy friend Coleman, Serge A. Storms is still cruising the highways on his perpetual quest to cleanse Florida of ill-mannered evildoers and educate ignorant tourists on the colorful history of his state. Chance leads Serge to Pat and Barbara McDougall, a saintly couple from Wisconsin who have come to Fort Lauderdale to recover from the loss of their teaching jobs. These innocents attract predatory thieves who rob them blind, motivating Serge to devise elaborate punishments for the miscreants and allowing Dorsey to let loose with some inspired satirical rants. - NY Times

Kellerman, Jonathan. Guilt Signed (Random $28).

A series of horrifying events occur in quick succession in the same upscale L.A. neighborhood. A backyard renovation unearths an infant's body, buried sixty years ago. And soon thereafter in a nearby park, another disturbingly bizarre discovery is made not far from the body of a young woman shot in the head. Helping LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to link these eerie incidents is brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. But even the good doctor's vast experience with matters both clinical and criminal might not be enough to cut down to the bone of this chilling case-and draw out the disturbing truth. Backtracking six decades into the past stirs up tales of a beautiful nurse with a mystery lover, a handsome, wealthy doctor who seems too good to be true, and a hospital with a notorious reputation-all of them long gone, along with any records of a newborn, and destined for anonymity. Kellerman writes a real indictment of the power of big celebrity and big money in Tinseltown -- it's predictable yet absolutely hair-raising!

Lansdale, Joe. Dead Aim Signed (Subterranean $27).

The story begins simply enough when the two agree to provide protection for a woman harassed by her violent, soon-to-be-ex husband. But, as readers of this series will already know, events in the lives of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine rarely stay simple for long. When a protracted stakeout ends in a lethal shooting and a pair of moldering corpses turn up in an otherwise deserted trailer, the nature of this 'routine' assignment changes dramatically. The ensuing investigation unearths a complex web of lies, duplicity, and hidden agendas that leads from an upscale Texas law firm to the world of organized crime, culminating in the kind of explosive, anything-can-happen confrontation that only Joe Lansdale could create. Violent, profane, and often raucously funny. 

A new Lansdale novel appears in the fall. Out in trade paper: Edge of Dark Water ($15)

Perry, Thomas. The Boyfriend (Grove $25 Signed March 6).

In its Starred Review, Booklist writes, "Perry is a master at multiple narrators. Here he juggles the narrative reins between PI Jack Till and hitman Joey Moreland. Till takes a case that the LAPD has given up on: the murder of a high-end prostitute whose killer seems to be targeting women of the same physical type-lissome strawberry blondes-working as female escorts in cities across the country. The parents of the latest victim want to find their daughter's killer even if the police don't, and hire Till to help. He quickly determines that the killer is more than just a john; able to ingratiate himself with the various women, he becomes their live-in boyfriend before killing them. But is there more to it than that? Is the killer using the women's homes as a convenient hiding place while he tends to other business and then, with business concluded, murdering the women to cover his tracks? Till follows Moreland's nearly invisible trail from L.A. to Phoenix to Boston-usually several crucial steps behind his adversary and realizing in the process that he has become a hitman following a hitman. 

Perry is a marvelous plotter, and he builds suspense with all the subtlety of a master chef nursing a risotto to buttery perfection, but what really separates him from the thriller field is his ability to fold psychological complexity into the onrushing narrative. In crime fiction, character building is too often an add-on, supplementing the thrust of the plot but never fully integrated with it. In a Perry novel, the two are part and parcel of one another. The suspense is more intense because the characters, heroes and villains, have worked their way so far under our skin. It's nothing new to call Perry a master of the genre, but it's no less true for being widely acknowledged." 

Also awarding a Star, PW adds, "Perry again proves himself a master stylist and plotter, as he effortlessly builds suspense and delves deeply into his characters, showing Till's cunning and how Moreland grew up to be a soulless killer."

Picoult, Jodi. The Storyteller Signed (Atria $28). Available March 11

 "At 25, Sage Singer is scarred, both physically and mentally, by the car accident that took her mother's life. A baker who works at night in a New Hampshire shop run by a former nun, Sage shuns almost all human contact, save for her coworkers and her funeral-director boyfriend, Adam, who is married to another woman. Sage ventures out of her comfort zone to befriend Josef Weber, an elderly retired teacher, who throws her world into chaos when he tells her that he's a former SS officer and asks her to help him end his life. Sage, whose grandmother Minka survived the Holocaust, reaches out to the Department of Justice and is connected with Leo Stein, a charismatic attorney and Nazi hunter. Leo travels to New Hampshire to investigate Sage's claims, which leads them to Minka, who shares a surprising connection to Josef. Based on extensive research, this is a powerful and riveting, sometimes gut-wrenching, read."-Booklist